Florida Statutes require that the School Board approve ESE SP&P to ensure the district’s compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law, and current Florida Statutes and State Board of Education Rules. The SP&P serves as the basis for the district’s ESE processes in daily operations in addressing identification, evaluation, eligibility determination, and placement procedures for students in special programs for exceptional students. The SP&P is also the prerequisite for both state and federal funding of ESE programs.

The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) provided a template to each district with preprinted information that may not be changed. The template provided areas for text to be inserted by districts with detailed instructions on the content that must be included. The contents of the SP&P submitted for approval in this item are predicated by revisions to State Board of Education Rules, which are currently in effect. The revisions to State Board of Education Rules and to the SP&P include the state and federally mandated processes of general education intervention procedures; response to intervention (RtI) data analysis; and a districtwide problem solving team (PST) approach as means to optimize the learning for all students, and especially for underperforming students. The district-specific information that was inserted into the template was developed collaboratively by ESE and Student Support Services personnel. FDOE required the district to submit the completed template to them for approval prior to seeking School Board approval. The SP&P included in this item for approval has received the preliminary approval of the FDOE.

The SP&P proposed to the School Board for its approval requires the signature of the superintendent verifying that the document as preprinted by FDOE has not been altered in any way.